I'm Coming Home
by Lady-Zara-Valli
Summary: A strange woman appears in the midst of battle. Who is this woman? How does Natsu know her? And it all started with two kids getting stuck in a tree. (Centered around OC) (Being re-written under new name)
1. Chapter 1

"And the blood will dry, underneath my nails.."

The battle was going on all around them, and Happy could see that things weren't going their way. Erza was just barely keeping the Sand Mage from Alvarez at bay using her Requip swords while Gray and Juvia had their hands full with ten other mages using Unison Raid. Lucy had called out Virgo and Taurus and was battling with her Aquarius star dress (and on occasion, a "Lucy Kick" was extremely effective). Gajeel was holding his own against another one of the Spriggan.

Carla was flying Wendy around who was blasting soldiers off ships with her Wind Dragon's Roar. Natsu was taking on Brandish, matching her blow after blow. Emperor Spriggan, or Zeref, was off in the distance, shouting orders and watching the battles play out, and if Happy wasn't mistaken, he was paying more attention to Natsu's fight with Lady Brandish more than anyone else's.

While they were winning their individual battles, or at least keeping them at bay, the rest of guild wasn't fairing too well. Max had been injured, as had many others. The Raijinshū had been backed up into a corner and Laxus was nowhere to be seen. The Strauss siblings had seen better days, and Bisca's sniper shots could only take out so many at a time while waiting for Jupiter to recharge from its last blast. Happy could tell that eventually they'd be overrun, just by the sheer number of mages and soldiers of Alvarez, despite all of First Master's battle strategies. They needed help, and they needed it now.

"First Master!" Happy called out, flying over to where she was directing the battle with Gramps. She looked up from the lacrima that she'd been using to observe all of the battle field. "We need more people! Did you call reinforcements?" Happy demanded in a very un-Happy like manner.

"Yes, Gildarts should be arriving anytime now and some of our ally guilds said that they'll help, however I don't know when that'll be…" she trailed off with a frown and glanced back down to check the state of the battle. Things were only getting worse.

"That's not going to be enough…" Happy admitted under his breath. Even though Gildarts was their strongest member, he couldn't take down them all. Mavis decided not to comment, only pressing her lips into a grim line.

Suddenly, Zeref called out in a booming voice for a retreat and after a few seconds the battles lulled as the Alvarez troops pulled back. First Master and Makerov looked up in surprise at the sudden development.

"Why are they pulling back?" Levy cried out, running into the partly destroyed guild hall.

"It seems they have called a retreat, although I don't know why… they were winning. Pulling back now will only allow us time to rest and gain more strength and prepare. What's Zeref thinking?" First Master answered, but added the last part to herself.

And with perfect timing, Gildarts arrived.

"Did I miss the battle?" He asked looking around, seeing the opposing force retreat. He shrugged and ran to his daughter Cana and pulled her into a tight hug, relieved that she wasn't injured.

Gajeel ran over to their steadily growing group as members headed to the masters as the fighting was dying down. He ran straight to Levy and looked over her carefully for any injuries while she seemed to be doing the same to him.

"Oi, shrimp, you okay?" he demanded, reaching out an arm to touch her shoulder.

She slapped his arm away but grabbed his hand.

"I'm fine, you were the one taking on one of the Spriggan!" she kept hold of his hand, twisting her fingers together with his. He just grunted at her comment, the ball of worry that had been growing inside his chest ever since the fighting started began to shrink. When they seemed satisfied that neither one was hurt, they took their eyes off each other and surveyed the damage around them.

Laxus had made his way over to the Raijinshū and was making sure they were all alright (and Bixlo checking on his babies) while they (mostly Freed) fussed over him.

Gray and Juvia made their way over to the two masters and Juvia stood between her beloved, Gray, and oldest friend, Gajeel, to reassure herself that two most important people in her life were ok.

Erza limped over and Wendy started her healing magic with only mild fussing over requip mage. When Wendy was done, Erza stood up straight and saw a familiar bob of blue hair across what had now turned into the battle field. She stood in shock for a moment before springing into motion, running over to him and wrapping him in a hug that was quickly returned (not one thought towards the fiancé that didn't exist).

Happy looked around trying to find Natsu. He was unable to fight alongside his best friend and was worried about him. Then Happy turned around, and there in the doorway stood Natsu. Without even thinking, Happy flew into Natsu chest and began to sob tears of joy.

"NATSU, YOU'RE OK!" the Exceed cried out. The dragon slayer put his arms around his best friend, pulling him tighter into his chest.

"We're alive, buddy, we're alive."

Listening to Natsu's steady heartbeat had a comforting effect on the Exceed and soon, Happy's crying turned into the occasional sniffle. Then Happy began to notice an evil energy coming from behind him.

 _Oh no, not again._

"Natsu...your arm...it's acting up" Happy whispered. The dragon slayer looked down and cursed. Letting go of Happy, Natsu gripped his arm. Looking back at his friend, he gave a weak smile.

"It's ok, it's under control now..." But in all honesty, Happy could tell that Natsu was just saying that to calm himself. Happy nodded his head and flew over to Lucy, who was currently looking for them. Happy noticed the celestial mage wasn't doing too well, her clothes were ripped and caked with dry blood. On further inspection, most of blood wasn't hers, thank goodness. But Happy knew who Lucy needed to see and so Happy pointed her to Natsu and flew away to where he had placed the Dragon Slayer's bag earlier.

Happy knew that if Natsu were to continue the way he was, then the secret of his arm was going to be revealed. He was clueless on how to help his friend, and no one else could know about the arm's secret. That only left one person in the entire world that could help

"Happy, what are you doing?" The blue cat looked up at the white Exceed.

"Getting help,"

"How are you going to get help from a backpack?"

Happy didn't answer.

Happy took something out and walked over to where Natsu and Lucy were standing, arguing about something. He waited for a second and interrupted them.

"Natsu, I didn't want to have to do this but you leave me no choice."

They both looked down at the Exceed. Lucy's eyes widened in surprise and Natsu's in horror. Happy had pulled out…

A key.

This key looked like one of Lucy's celestial spirit keys, but it was bronze, and the symbol was one that Lucy had never seen before. But instead of summoning the spirit the usual way, Happy pressed the center and it began to glow.

"Happy...what's go-"

Then suddenly, a bright light filled the guild hall, causing the members to force their eyes close. When it cleared, they opened their eyes. Automatically, all eyes shifted to the center of the broken guild.

A purple haired mage appeared, the key shattering once it had been used. Lucy was taken back to her last memories of Aquarius in Tartarus before she shook her head to focus. The woman appeared to be in her late twenties, sitting in a beach chair, sunglasses covering her eye and headphones in her ears. She was wearing a green bikini, less revealing than anything any of the current members of Fairy Tail ever wore, but it was still revealing enough to show huge scars, no, claw marks going from her left hip across her torso, ending at her right shoulder. Besides the claw marks, her most striking feature was a light blue guild mark over her heart, but unlike any other there was another tattoo in the center, the same mark that was on the hilt of the broken key in Happy's hands. Around her neck hung a crystal that looked like a small lacrama, dangled from a simple silver chain.

She looked up from the book in her hands, pulling the earbuds out and took off her sunglasses, putting them on top of her head. Her dark blue eyes were filled with bewilderment, only then seeming to notice where she was, or rather, where she wasn't. "I'm guessing this isn't Bora Bora," she said with a slight accent, and looked around her surroundings. Her eyes widened as she saw the battlefield with scorch marks and frozen chunks of ground torn up. She then looked to the flying blue cat holding a broken key and her eyes widened even more in recognition.

"Happy?! Wha...?" she began to ask asked, obviously confused. But before the woman could finish, Happy had begun to cry and flew straight into her arms "Natsu needs your help! His arm is acting up again."

Everyone shared an incredulous look. How the hell did Happy know this woman? "Who're you?" Lucy demanded. The stranger either ignored Lucy or just didn't hear her. The woman quickly stood up, still holding on to the sobbing cat and turned to look at Natsu.

"What's going on? Why do you need my help?" she crossed her arms and studied him carefully, taking in his weary expression and all the scrapes and bruises littering his body. She narrowed her eyes and glared at him. He reached back and scratched his head guiltily.

"Yeah, it's time.." he trailed off and winced at her glare, shrinking back. She glanced around her taking in the full implications of the battle field around her.

She shook her head. "You, sir, have a lot of explaining to do."

* * *

Everyone stared in shock at the purple mage who had shown up out of the blue, mouths agape. She talked to Natsu in a language not known to anyone and Natsu began to talk back to her in what they assumed was the same language. Occasionally, Natsu would slip back into everyone else's native tongue, but then they would go right back to speaking gibberish.

While Natsu explained the situation everyone else in the guild studied her, (Lucy with narrowed, suspicious eyes) and noticed it wasn't just any guild mark; it was the Fairy Tail guild mark.

"When did she join Fairy Tail?" Levy whispered to Lucy.  
"I don't know…" she trailed off, and if she was being honest with herself she couldn't deny the feelings of jealousy the sight of her talking so comfortably with Natsu brought up.

All the previous guild masters looked at each other, seeing if maybe one of them knew who she was. When none of them came up with an answer, Makarov sighed and took charge of his other "brats". He assigned most of them to help with the healing of others, but he assigned the Thunder-God tribe to see if they could spot any of the reinforcements coming. Now there was only the guild masters, Team Natsu, The Exceeds, Levy, Gajeel, and Cana at the table.

As Natsu finished, the woman's face turned stormy and she began to mumble a series of what Lucy believed to be curse words.

"Do you understand what you are asking me to do?" The woman asked Natsu, finally in everyone's native tongue.

Natsu shifted but then looked her right in the eyes. "After what you told me, I understand if you don't want…"

The woman put her hand up and Natsu immediately stopped talking, the rest of the guild's eyes widened, surprised. Usually only Erza or maybe Lucy could get Natsu to listen, but here was someone else who could do the same thing without even saying anything.

"Natsu, I understand your concern with all of this, but this is..how do you say..." She sighed trying to come up with the words. She groaned in frustration and continued "...mea culpa… and I need to fix this… for everyone."

Natsu nodded in understanding.

"I really don't want this either, but if it comes down to it, I'll have to…" Natsu trailed off, not wanting to continue.

"...for the sake of the world..." she finished for him.

A moment of silence as the rest of the group tried to decode what exactly they two were referring to. Then it was broken by the person least likely to shout out.

"LATIN!" Levy McGarden exclaimed.

The group looked at the script mage in surprise, not use to her being so loud. Gajeel, who was seated next to her, turned to look at his bookworm.

"Excuse me, shrimp, what the hell does that mean?"

Levy, ignoring the Iron Dragon Slayer, got out of her seat and quickly walked up to the woman.

"You're speaking fluent Latin so it has to be your native language. I picked it up a few years back, it was the hardest language I've ever had to learn."

The woman blinked, taken aback. She shifted uncomfortably, not sure how to answer her.

Levy continued. "Now the real question is, how in the heck did Natsu learn Latin in such a short period of time? Are you some kind of amazing teacher?"

The woman tilted her head a little. "Of sorts," She answered vaguely.

Before Levy could pry any deeper, Natsu gave a small cough, trying to get them back on the main topic. Levy, turned to Natsu and gave him the death glare, pissed off at not getting information. Lucy couldn't help but giggle at the scene playing in front of her. Then, she stopped giggling when she saw the other woman's gaze on her. The new woman's eyes widened in surprise. Then she turned around the room, her eyes settling on the first master. Her mouth fell open and she quickly covered it, trying to suppress her laughter.

Turning back to the pink haired boy, she removed her hand from her face, but her ginormous grin still stayed. She said something quickly in her native tongue, causing Natsu's face to turn almost the same shade of scarlet that the requip mage had. The only words Levy caught were "Father", "Brothers", and "Blondes" before the Dragon slayer put his un-wrapped hand over the woman's mouth.

"Don't even…" Natsu began. But then, he quickly removed it and grabbed his bandaged arm. The group could see Natsu wince in pain, and the woman swore once again.

"Sorry, I got carried away..."

She sprinted to where her beach chair sat and grabbed a small messenger's bag that had been besides it. The woman ran back to the table and dumped the contents. Papers, quills, books, journals, a half-eaten sandwich, a white bed sheet, and a first aid kit. Lucy marveled at how much stuff the bag actually held and wondered if later she could ask to borrow it for Erza.

The woman shifted through the stuff and picked up the sandwich, debating whether to eat it or not. She shrugged, quickly shoving the sandwich into her mouth and carefully pulled out the first aid kit, and began looking through it. She finally found what she had been looking for. Pulling out a cloth bandage, she gently grabbed Natsu's arm. Placing her thumb to hold the new cloth in place, the woman began to carefully unwrap the old cloth, a portion at a time, then before anyone could see the arm, she wrapped it with the new cloth… Finally, after what seemed like eternity, she finished. The woman quickly picked up the old wrapping and handed it to Natsu.

"Burn it now!" The woman ordered and Natsu grinned, obeyed immediately as the bandage burned into ash.

The group realized they had been holding their breaths for no reason. They quickly began to breathe normally and the dragon slayer sat down in relief.

"Thank y…"

"Save it, Dragneel;" The woman interrupted, her face now completely serious.

"Be grateful I had some of that magic cloth left. Do you have any idea how much magical energy it takes to make those?! That one piece you just burned? It took me so many years and you just had to ruin it."

"Well, you were the one who who wanted me too!"

Lucy raised her hand and the two looked at her.

"Alright, I think I'm speaking for everyone here, so can I just ask, who the hell are you?"

The woman blinked and smacked her head. "I am sorry, I'm being rude! My name is Zara, Zara D. Valli." She put out her hand and Lucy looked at it for a second before shaking it. "I'm guessing you're Lucy. Natsu told me a lot about you. But before I get started on beating people up, can I get a different outfit? I don't want to wear this two piece out on a battlefield."

* * *

 **(Author's notes:**

 **Uh so hi, guys, Hestia here, thanks for picking this up. This story came to me about a month ago and with A LOT of help from my best friends, (THANK YOU PEOPLE FOR EDITING) we managed to put it all down here. Be aware this is my first fanfic, and I honestly don't know what I'm doing half the time and I suck at spelling. I'm thinking it's going to be more than 15 chapters, I'll let you know**

 **Vesta: Hey, everyone! More chapters to come, so if you liked it we'll be updating soon (hopefully).**

 **Hestia: So..Also, we sadly don't own Fairy Tail. That belongs to Hiro Mashima. BUT WE DO OWN ZARA….Zara is my precious cinnamon roll...mine...**

 **Anyways, R &R!)**

 **Edit: If we missed something please tell us. Thats all we ask**


	2. Chapter 2

_Happy and Natsu get themselves in trouble (and no one is really surprised)_

It had been about five months since Natsu and Happy had left Fairy Tail in order for them to get stronger. While they missed all of their friends in Fairy Tail, especially Lucy (although Natsu didn't let himself think too deeply as to what that meant), they knew they had to get stronger because Zeref and Acnologia would be back. And Natsu couldn't stand by and watch the people he cared about- his nakama- die. So far, Natsu had been doing really well, mastering different techniques and even creating a few new ones. Happy... well, all that mattered is that he was trying. As they were training, the two were wandering around Fiore, they didn't really have a destination in mind. However, Natsu and Happy still always managed to get into trouble wherever they went.

Morning's rays slowly opened the Dragon Slayer's tired eyes. He hadn't gotten much sleep, but Natsu got up anyway and began gently shaking the sleeping Exceed awake for breakfast. Happy enjoyed his raw fish while Natsu dined on the fading camp fire from the previous night. They were in no hurry as they packed up Natsu's sleeping bag and supplies and set off.

They traveled through the forest till noon, stopping again for a "small" lunch break of fish and some sandwiches Natsu had packed since he didn't want to have to go through the trouble of making another fire.

As they ate, Happy kept looking around, as if he felt something was wrong and the feeling grew worse the longer they stayed, "Natsu… something isn't right here…"

The dragon slayer looked up, and began to see what Happy meant. It was unnaturally quiet, and as Natsu looked closer, he saw that there was barely any life at all. Natsu quickly shoved the remainder of his meal into his mouth and picked up his bag. "Alright, buddy, let's go."

Happy nodded and with an "Aye, sir!" he spread his wings and began to follow Natsu.

A few minutes later, the two came to a clearing and stopped. Before them lay a huge crater, at least a mile across. And in the center of it, a giant dragon's arm. As Natsu looked closer, his eyes widened in horror, his tan face now turned pale. It had been five months since that day, but Natsu remembered every detail of the dragon who had murdered his adoptive father; Natsu was staring at Acnologia's missing arm.

Natsu's knees gave way and fell to the ground, tears beginning to stream down his face. It had been a long few months. Watching his adopted father getting ripped in half was probably the worst thing that the young dragon slayer had ever witnessed and he was constantly plagued with nightmares. Often waking up to his own screams and Happy trying to shake him awake. And now, right in front of him, was a piece of Igneel's final battle and it still had the ability to kill. His body shook as anger, no, rage, tore through his body.

Happy was terrified. It was normal for Natsu to catch on fire on occasion, but these were not his usual bright orange flames… they were charcoal black and Natsu's eyes seemed to glow brightly, almost demon like. Happy backed up a little, terrified. The glow slowly disappeared, and the flames turned crimson. He got himself back under control. For a long while Natsu simply stared at the arm, unsure what to do. Happy slowly approached him and put a paw on his leg, looking up at him.

"What're we going to do?" he asked carefully. He couldn't tell what is friend was thinking, and that scared him.

"We need to destroy that thing," Natsu spat, anger rolling off him in waves. He made his way down into the crater- Happy following slowly- and stood three feet away from the arm. At this close a range, Natsu could feel the magic radiating from the arm and it was making him sick- it was worse than when he got motion sickness. Now that he was right there, he hesitated, not wanting to have to touch the vile thing.

He swallowed and felt his resolve hardened and reached out with his right hand to grab it- intent on setting it ablaze- but the moment his hand came in contact with the arm he was thrown back to the edge of the crater, out cold.

"NATSU!" Happy cried out and flew to his best friend's side. The arm no longer radiated the intense stench of corrupted magic; it was now coming from the dragon slayer. Happy gasped, seeing the markings that had once covered Acnologia's arm now on Natsu's. "This isn't good," Happy mumbled to himself. He knew he had to get Natsu away from this place; even though the arm was harmless now, the area still gave off a feeling of death and destruction.

Hoisting Natsu up, careful to mind his arm, Happy took off, intent on finding a village and a healer, and if not that, then a lacrima so he could get in contact with Lucy. Or… maybe not Lucy. Natsu had been very sensitive on the subject, so perhaps he wouldn't appreciate him contacting her without his knowledge. _Wendy would help_ , Happy thought. She would also be the one most qualified to deal with this and help heal Natsu. With his mind made up, Happy flew even faster, determined to reach a town by nightfall.

Happy had underestimated just how deep they were in the woods; it was getting late- the sun had set a few hours ago and yet Happy saw no signs of any villages nearby. He was starting to get tired and could feel his magic draining. He wouldn't last much longer. Natsu had not stirred in his arms the entire time and Happy was growing increasingly worried. Having spotted a nice clearing not too far ahead in the moonlight, Happy set his sights on that, determined to make it there before taking a break for the night. But before he was halfway there he could feel the last of his magic draining out of his system. Happy's eyes closed as the last of his energy disappeared and he and Natsu began falling head over heels, tumbling out of the sky.

 **(A/N:**

 **Hestia: THANK YOU SO MUCH THOSE WHO FOLLOWED AND FAVORITED THIS, I'M SHOCKED! I'm sorry that this is such a short chapter, I promise the next one will be longer trust me on that… In other news I got myself an Aquarius key. I'm just hoping it won't break….** **(we also didn't have anyone edit this, so if you see something let us know..)**

 **I was also going to do the chapter names in song lyrics but it didn't exactly work as I had planned, so yeah...haha…*Sighs***

 **Vesta: ¡Hola, everyone! Well, this took less time than the first- probably because we knew where this story's headed more now (and also it's like a third of the length…). Hopefully we can update again soon!**

 **Hestia: but that Galevy kiss though…Vesta was excited…**

 **Vesta: Well it's been a LONG TIME AND THEY NEEDED TO DO SOMETHING (those bed sheets though… OTP!)**

 **R &R please!)**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 :HOME SWEET CAVE

Happy groaned and opened his eyes. His first attempt at sitting up failed and it took him a few minutes to gain enough energy to try again. On his next attempt he was successful but felt a sharp pain in his head and reached up to touch it, wincing. However, when his hand made contact with his head, he didn't feel his fur like he'd expected- it felt like cloth. With more prodding at the cloth he realized it was a bandage covering his head, no doubt from when he'd injured it from falling. He noticed they were in a cave, which was strange because the last thing he remembered was falling out of the sky over the forests, so he wasn't sure how they had gotten in here. Realizing that there had to be someone else there in order to drag them into the cave and dress Happy's wounds, he began to look around. Natsu was laying by his right- still unconscious, but on a small cot and a blanket was pulled up to his chin, tucking him in.

Outside it was nighttime, but Happy didn't have a clue as to how long he and Natsu had been there. As Happy looked in the cave, he began to observe his surroundings. The deep cave was surprisingly warm and comfortable. A large fire illuminated the dancing shadows as they leaped across the rocky walls. There was a wooden pantry, that Happy guess had food in it (Hopefully there was an ice box with fish). Next to that was huge bookcase, filled completely with books, scrolls, and papers all crammed together in organized chaos. A small table was hidden in the corner, and more books littered the surface, along with the occasional cooking utensil. A makeshift curtain separated the main cave to what Happy assumed to be a smaller room- he'd have to explore that later (Happy knew about the concept of privacy, he just didn't care).

Before Happy could look into it though, a cloaked figure appeared at the entrance of the cave. Happy quickly laid down again and feigned sleep, but peaked open his eye to watch. The cloaked figure, who turned out to be a woman, took off her cloak and placed it on a hook in the rock wall. The Exceed saw the woman had short, violet hair that appeared to have been crudely cut with a knife. Bangs covered her eyes, but as she moved, Happy saw ocean blue eyes. She was of average size, but she stood up straight with a noble woman. She wore leather knee high boots and black leggings. The untucked white blouse was partially covered with a long, brown, leather vest with red and gold trimming, and that was partially covered with what Happy guessed was a really fancy folded bed sheet.

She shivered and mumbled something about how cold it was and Happy quickly closed his eyes when he saw that she was walking towards him. She stopped in front of the fire and leaned in, letting the small flames warm her shivering body. Then she looked down at the cat and smiled

He felt a cool breeze on his fur when she passed him and risked another peek when he couldn't hear anymore movement. She had pulled a stool to the dragon slayers bed-side. The woman was currently dabbing a wet cloth on Natsu's forehead, Happy guessed trying to cool him off, which was stupid because he was a fire dragon slayer.

"Blue cat, I know you're awake." She casually said, not even turning around.

Happy stopped breathing for a second

 _How in the heck did she know I was awake?_ Her accent was hard to put into words, but it was beautiful. Happy sat up sheepishly, knowing that it was no use trying to hide it anymore.

The woman, still not turning around, leaned down and placed the cloth in the water and after a few seconds, she rung it out and placed it back on Natsu's forehead. She then sighed deeply and faced Happy. She smiled down at the Exceed kindly, but as Happy looked into her eyes, he saw a great sadness deep within- a pain that only came with old age or great sorrow.

Or both.

"So...," she began

"Happy."

"Alright, Happy, care to explain what in the hell happened to you two?"

The Exceed shifted uncomfortably, but for some strange reason, he felt as though he could trust her.

"We were walking along when we saw this ENORMOUS arm and Natsu got all mad...and.." Happy stopped, seeing something flash within the woman's eyes. After a few seconds the woman waved her hand, signaling him to continue. The cat obeyed and began again

"..and Natsu got mad, because the arm belonged to a dragon named Acnologia that killed his dad, Igneel."

The woman's face turned ghostly white as she processed what the cat had said.

"What is it?" the cat asked, noticing her actions. The hands stopped moving and she looked up again.

"Igneel… I knew he had disappeared a few years back, so I decided to wait here until he came back. He owed me some books." Happy's eyes widened, and he began looking around at the cave again.

"This isn't Igneels…"

The woman shook her head.  
"Yes and no. Yes, this is Igneel's cave, but no it isn't. There are many tunnels throughout here and they all connect to the main cave, which is… or was, Igneel's main home."

"So pretty much we're in Igneel's old cave, but we're not technically in his cave?"

"Yep."

A few minutes of awkward silence.

"So who are you?"

The woman frowned, as if it was obvious.

"My name is Zera."

* * *

 _It wasn't until the people ran right through him that Natsu realized that he was dreaming. He had woken up in a field of scarlet flowers. The sun was high, and only a few white puffy clouds were scattered across the atmosphere. Natsu looked around, trying to see if he could maybe spot Happy, but the Exceed was nowhere to be seen. The dragon slayer recalled being blasted back by the arm's magic, but after that, everything was blank._

 _He began walking in a random direction, hoping to maybe find a town to maybe find out where exactly in Earthland he was. After what seemed about ten minutes, he finally saw someone._

" _HEY!" Natsu called out, trying to get the woman's attention, but she apparently didn't hear him. The dragon slayer began to run to her and called out again. This time she turned around and Natsu stopped dead in his tracks. He didn't recognize her, but he knew that face from somewhere. Then he realized that she wasn't looking at him, but the something behind him. Natsu turned around, confused, and that's when the young couple walked through him, like he was a ghost._

* * *

Natsu's eyes shot open and there he was, face to face with the same woman from his dream.

"But fish is obviously the superior food!" Happy was saying and it took Natsu a minute to process the scene before him. The lady from his dream was sitting cross legged on the floor by a fire, chatting away with Happy- who had a bandage wrapped around his head- about fish. Then, he smelled it. He hadn't smelled that scent in months, and before that it had been years. The scent brought back memories of a childhood long gone and of late nights spent practicing dragon slayer magic. It was Igneel's scent- and this cave was part of his old home.

Natsu felt a single tear roll down his cheek, remembering the day he lost his adoptive father.

 _"I, Igneel, am with you!_ "

Natsu sniffed and quickly sat up, the bed creaking. The two people in front of the fire quickly turned to the source of the noise.

"NATSU!" Happy exclaimed, running up and climbed on the bed and into Natsu's arm.

"Happy..." Natsu managed. The woman from his dream by this time had stood up and made her way to the reunited friends. Then she did something that neither one was expecting.

She slapped Natsu across the face with a resounding SMACK!

* * *

 **(A/N**

 **Hestia: Hello! Sorry about not updating last week! Every week we will attempt to update either Tuesday or Thursday….**

 **So what did you guys think? R &R….**

 **In other news I am currently watching Fairy Tail again...and I'm just laughing because they called Zeref's magic is LIFE magic…...hahaha….and Lullaby called Natsu a monster...haha….*pain* THE FORESHADOWING! LYRIA WE NEED MORE OF HER!**

 **ALSO ITALICIZED BOLD IS ZARA OR NATSU SPEAKING LATIN! PLEASE KEEP THAT IN MIND AS WE CONTINUE**

 **Vesta: It feels like we've been working on this chapter for so long… and yet we haven't updated and it's only about half the length of the first chapter… oh well. Hope you liked it; we'll be posting again in about a week! (Maybe).**

* * *

 **(Bonus: As Natsu is looking around this is the conversation that Happy and Zara had**

 **Z:"No, I'm going to have to disagree..according to my research it is either chocolate or the number forty-two"**

 **H:"That makes no sense!"**

 **N:"Yeah, well neither does fish")**


	4. Chapter 4

"So….Who exactly are you?"

It was just Lucy and the woman at the table, everyone else had left to either take a much needed nap or help the injured. However, on occasion, Lucy could see that her guild mates would sneak a peek at the table. The woman was still in her bathing suit, but she didn't seem to care. The woman looked up from her tea (that Mirajane had poured for her) to the blonde celestial mage sitting across from her.

"I told you, my name is Zara." She responded.

"I know _that_ , I'm just wondering how you know Natsu."

Zara, gave a sad smile and glanced over to the pinked haired dragon slayer. The mage in question had left the table and was currently watching over Asuka while Wendy healed her parents' injuries.

"I've know Natsu Dragneel for a very, very long time. I was best friends with his parents when we were young." Lucy's eyes widened.

"Wait, his actual parents… You're not talking about Igneel?!"

The woman shook her head and looked down.

"No, although I knew Cinder-head- I mean Igneel- I am referring about his parents, Malachi and Alisa Dragneel." Lucy was stunned,but before she could question further, Zara continued. "They both died when he was about a year old, so it's not really a surprise he wouldn't talk about them or much less remember his biological family. In all honestly, I had thought that he had died as well after all that had happened… But to my surprize, last year, I was looking at Sorcerers Magazine… It wasn't until I saw Fairy Tail's photo in the newspaper with him right in front, that I realized that he was alive." Zara sighed. "I had joined the guild back with the second Master and I was surprised to find Natsu had joined the same one. Lucy put up her hand.

"Wait, wait hold up. Ok, you said you joined with the second master. The second master left at least 50 years ago. That's not possible, you don't even look 30… And what even is your magic? I saw you were summoned by key but you're not a Celestial spirit… Does that mean your a…?"

"Thanks, but no, it was about 75 years ago…." Zara's eyes became thoughtful. "I heard from Loke that you're his key bearer….may I….may I see your keys?"

Lucy hesitated for a moment. She was still trying to put together the pieces of what Zara had said and was reluctant to hand her most prized possessions over. Zara could see the other's hesitation and smiled.

"I promise not to steal them," she winked. Lucy laughed nervously andhanded them over. Zara inspected each one and seemed impressed by the amount of golden keys Lucy had managed to create contracts with.

"So, I see you have nine golden keys and four silver keys...but if I remember correctly, you also had one other golden key. Aquarius's key."

The blonde celestial mage paled, but she nodded and looked down shamefully. "I used her key as a sacrifice in order to summon the Spirit King to defeat Mard Geer, the King of the Underworld."

"At her request wasn't it?" Zara asked softly.

"...Yes."

"Then lift up your head child, Aquarius has always been a stubborn one, but she is loyal to those who earn it." Zara proclaimed. Lucy lifted her head and Zara continued. "That was her choice and her choice alone… but I do wonder..." There was a moment of hesitation before she spoke again. "Lucy, do you mind if I look at it?" Lucy took off her necklace that held Aquarius's broken key and reluctantly handed it over. Zara inspected it closely with a neutral expression before handing it back.

"I can fix it."

Lucy blinked in surprise.".. Excuse me?"

"Well yeah. I mean, I was the one who created the keys in the first place, so it only makes sense that I can fix it," Zara stated.

Lucy leaped up from her seat causing the bench to crash to the floor. The rest of the guild looked up, for it had been unnaturally quiet and it was a surprise that Lucy, of all people, was the one to break the silence.

With her index finger pointed straight at the woman, Lucy looked as if she was a lawyer who just won the case for her client.

"You're HER! You're the key maker! YOU were the one who first made the contracts! Oh Mavis…"

-FLASHBACK-

The slap resonated throughout the cave, bouncing off the curved walls. A minute passed and they were still silent. The woman's eyes were burning with a anger that could match Erza when her strawberry cake was destroyed.

"Zara! What was that for?! Natsu is already injured enough as it is!" Happy cried, breaking the silence.

"That was from Leo." The woman retorted bitterly. "And I quote him," Zara cleared her throat and in an almost perfect Loke impression exclaimed, "'YOU DUMB-ASS, HOW DARE YOU LEAVE HER ALONE?! SHE CRIED OVER YOUR SORRY ASS FOR MONTHS! YOU DON'T DESERVE HER!'"

Zara took in a deep breath and the angry fire dimmed a little.

"Natsu Dragneel, how _dare_ you?! You should know better than to make your girlfriend cry, and for such a stupid reason too. 'To get stronger' my ass; you're just running away! Don't think I don't know th…"

"Lucy… was crying?"

Zara stopped, the fire now completely extinguished. And when she saw the single tear fall down the young man's face, she began to panic internally. Natsu placed his head into his hands and began to shake violently, holding back sobs."...Lucy…."The cave filled with the sobs of the broken hearted boy, who just wanted to go home. Happy gently patted the dragon slayer on the back and slowly Natsu stopped sobbing, only hiccuping occasionally.

"Look… Natsu… I'm sorry for slapping you. It was uncalled for, and if Leo really wants, he should come out of the spirit world himself to start an argument with you. Will you forgive me..?"

Both the Dragon-slayer and the blue Exceed looked up at the woman- one moment she was practically screaming at Natsu, the next she was apologizing.

"Uh...yeah, sure…" Zara bowed her head in thanks and sighed.

"I'm guessing you're hungry by now, you've been out for three days…"

"THREE DAYS?!" Natsu yelled.

Ignoring the outburst, Zara got up, waltzed to the table and grabbed a wooden bowl. Then she walked back to the fire, where a cauldron sat just above the flames She kept talking, but Natsu turned a deaf ear. As she opened the lid, Natsu's nose was filled with the smell of hot stew. Now stew wasn't exactly Natsu's favorite food, but the smell of this filled him with a warmth no fire could ever get close to.

His mind flashed and he was a small child… Sitting in a bed.. Coughing.

 _A woman with bright pink hair had her hand placed gently over his forehead, feeling for a feaver. She smiled softly and turned when she heard a knock at the door. Another woman came in and to Natsu's surprise, it was Zara._

" _How's he doing?" She asked, placing a tray of stew on the table besides the bed._

" _He's not getting any better, but not getting worse, either," the pink haired woman stated, her brow furrowed in concern as she looked back to him. Then another silhouette appeared in the doorway- one of a small child. The child tried to hide behind the door, but Zara saw him._

" _It's alright, you can come in."_

 _The child nodded and quietly shuffled in. The boy had raven black hair and pale skin...he seemed...familiar... He crawled onto the bed and plopped down right next to Natsu. He put his hand on Natsu's head and gently stroking back his hair. After a few seconds, he began speak in a sing-song voice._

" _You are my sunshine, my only sunshine_

 _You make me happy when skies are grey_

 _You'll never know dear, how much I love you_

 _Please don't take my sunshine away…"_

 _Natsu felt his eyes getting heavy and as he closed them he heard the other woman speak._

" _You're a good older brother, Zeref."_

 _ **(AUTHOR'S NOTES**_

 _ **Hestia: well….oops…sorry about the wait guys. But we're giving you another chapter! We're getting into Zara's backstory….YAY! As usual, if you have a problem message us. And Fairy Tail isn't owned by us, sadly. THANKS SO MUCH FOR EDITING (you know who you are)**_

 _ **BeginnerFanFictionWriter16**_

 _ **I hope this chapter answers your question.**_

 _ **dragonhuntingslayer**_

 _ **Oh wait till we get to the pain….."ψ(**_ __ _ **´)ψ**_

 _ **..I'm tired...please excuse me.**_

 _ **Vesta: Wow, that took longer than expected… sorry (blame school and tests). Anyway, I hope this answers any questions and (hopefully) doesn't create new ones… This chapter took a long time to write because first we didn't know where to start up at, and then when we got pretty much a whole chapter done, we scrapped it in favor of this. More to come!)**_


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey Natsu...are you alright?" Zara asked, seeing the Dragon Slayer's eyes shut tightly. She walked back over and placed the bowl of stew on the stool next to the bed.

"Maybe he went back to sleep?" Happy suggested. Zara shook her head and bit her lip. "No, something isn't right…" She placed her pale hand on Natsu's head, checking for a fever.

Then, to both of their surprise, Natsu's eyes shot open. Faster than anyone could blink, he grabbed her wrist tightly with his non-bandaged hand, pulling her close to his face. He seemed to be frantically searching for answers in her sky blue eyes.

"Who the hell are you? What the fuck did I just see?"  
"Natsu… your hand… it's hurting me..."

Natsu looked down at his hand and quickly released her. Zara quickly pulled back and began rubbing her wrist.

"How the hell should I know what you saw?" She questioned

Natsus eyes didn't sway from the woman's."There was this lady and you in a room...and you and her were taking care of me...then all of a sudden...Zeref...came in.."

"So, you do remember something…" Zara pursed her lips and turned around and pulled back the curtain to the other room. Happy took a peek inside and saw more bookshelves, also filled to the brim with books and scrolls. In the middle of the room there was a desk- surprisingly clean compared to the rest of the cave- and she walked to it and picked up a box. She then turned around and carried the box with her back to the bed and sat on the edge.

"Here, Natsu. Your birth certificate." Zara handed him a slip of paper that was falling apart at all the folds. He looked up at her expecting her to be joking, but her face was dead serious. He opened it and looked at it. Happy peaked at the sheet. Honestly, it looked like lines to the Exceed, even more so that usual.

"Hey Natsu, what does it say?"

The dragon slayer cleared his throat and began.

"Certificate of live birth, name Natsu Dragneel. Sex: Male, Single, Time of birth 6:03 am.. Mother: Alisa Bia Dragneel, Father: Malachi Rory Dragneel ..Date of birth July 7th….Where the hell did you get this? This has to be fake..."

"No, it's real." Zara stated matter of factly. "Your parents gave it to me to keep safe. You went through a period of trying to burn down the house, so they asked me to put it in a safe place until you learned how to control it… Now, here is your older brother's." She pulled out an older looking sheet and handed it to the dragon slayer. He shakily opened it and looked at the words.

He paled and his hands began to shake slightly- his grip on the paper tightened the further he read.

"Natsu… what does it say? Who's your brother?" Happy asked.

The dragon slayer's hands now shook uncontrollably and then he stood up, and crumpling up the sheet. "HEY! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW-" Natsu glared at her, or she guessed he did; she couldn't see his eyes.

"This isn't fucking funny, lady..." He murmured. He walked to the table and gripped it until his knuckles turned white. Then he flipped the table over, all the stuff falling to the floor; now his whole body was shaking violently.

"HEY!" Zara exclaimed in horror, watching the papers fall. "All my research messed up…." Natsu ignored her, and went to the edge of the cave, and let out a deafening roar.

All over the country, those who had the Fairy Tail mark woke up at the same time, startled (minus Levy and Gajeel- they were already awake-(*^o^*)) but almost all just sighed and went back to sleep. All except one. Lucy Heartfilia got up and looked to the moon. "Natsu…" She whispered.

Back at the cave, Natsu finally stopped screaming and had slumped back onto the bed, exhausted.

"You better now?" Zara asked hesitantly, not wanting him to blow up again. Natsu looked up, his face still pale, but he had finally calmed down.

"You're telling me that _he_ \- of all people.."

Zara nodded her head slowly.

"Yes, he is… but in all honesty I thought you would freak out more about the year of birth…"

"Yeah, that has to be fake."

"No, it's very much real; you really were born then… trust me, I was there; I helped with the delivery."

Happy, meanwhile, was completely clueless on what they were saying- they had slipped into a different language.

"Uh, Natsu? What's going on?" He asked.

The dragon slayer turned to him in surprise. But Zara spoke for him.

"He's speaking our native tongue, blue cat, a dead language: Latin."

Happy was beyond confused, but Zara continued, picking up the stew from the stool and held it out as an offering.

"Natsu, eat. I need you to listen carefully to my story… it is really important- and in it, you might be able to find out who you were, who you are, and maybe who you will be."

Natsu looked at Happy and Happy looked at Natsu and they both shrugged.

The dragon slayer took the stew from the woman and began to eat it quickly. After about thirty seconds, Natsu had finished and sat cross-legged on the bed with Happy in his lap. Zara pulled over a rocking chair that looked like it had seen better days and sat down, covering her legs with an old quilt. Happy thought she looked like an old grandmother who was about to tell her grandkids a bedtime story.

"All that I'm about to tell you is the truth. Most of it won't make sense to you now, but wait until I get to the end; I promise everything will be explained. Zeref, Acnologia, Celestial Magic: All of this began more than 400 years ago, with two idiots who got stuck in a tree."

 **(A/n Hestia: yay! Happy birthday me! We're publishing a chapter today to celebrate! AND ALSO OVER A THOUSAND VIEWS HOLY CRAP I LOVE YOU GUYS!**

 **But seriously, how are you all liking this?)**

 **Vesta: I feel like this chapter is short(er)... probably is, I'm just too lazy to look up word count on my phone right now :P Anyway, whoo! Two chapters in less than a week! Yay! And the next chapter should be up pretty soon- within this week, probably.)**


	6. Chapter 6

_**(THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF ZARA'S BACKSTORY FYI..You won't be seeing the battle until the E.N.D….Sorry, folks, if that is what you were looking forward to…)**_

It was a gorgeous summer's day. Hot yes, but the occasional breeze helped to cool the air. It was a week into the month of July and the adults were working in the shops and fields. The children chased each other and explored the world around them.

"Come on, you can do it." Called a small girl with orchid colored hair to below her. The boy, who was almost seven summers old, looked up to where his friend was perched.  
"Zera...I...I can't!" he called up, his voice shaking, "I'm already too high up."  
The girl, Zera, who was also seven summers old, rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh.  
"COME ON... You don't want to lose to a girl do you?"  
"I lose to you all the time, why does it matter if you're a girl or guy?!"  
"That's besides the point; get your butt up here!"  
He gave a resigned sigh and slowly started climbing branch to branch after his friend, the leaves catching in his raven black hair. He made it halfway up before he risked a glance down. He saw the very distant ground and latched onto the closest branch as he held on for dear life.  
"What're you doing?" Zera demanded. He stifled back a sob and started stuttering incomprehensible words. "You afraid of heights?" she taunted down to him. "Guess I'm the manliest one here." she gloated and started to make her way down to help him.  
On her way down however, Zara's foot got caught in a branch and she twisted, falling off and somehow ending up upside-down, hanging only by her foot. The boy watched with bulging eyes.

"Are you okay?!" he called up worriedly. The blood began to rush to Zara's head.

"A little help over here?!" the girl managed, her voice breaking. The boy could see his friend near tears, but so great was his fear of heights that he couldn't move a muscle.

So there they were, 3 hours later, still in the exact same positions.  
"If you would just get down you could go get help!" Zara yelled at the boy, her fear long gone, now was replaced with pure anger.  
"I'm stuck too! How am I supposed to get down?" he demanded. The girl scuffed and folded her arms, trying her best to look sulky with a red face and her orchid color hair hanging down, foot still caught in the tree.  
"Just climb down! It's simple! Just put one foot below the other," she instructed. They began bickering about the difficulty of getting down from their current positions and were so focused that they didn't even notice a small, red haired girl coming up the hill or that she had stopped below their tree.  
"Umm... Do you guys need any help?" she asked. They both stopped arguing and glanced down at their new arrival.  
"YES!" both cried in unison. The redhead blinked and pulled out a hair ribbon and tied her fiery red hair back from her face.

"Here, I'll talk you down," she addressed the boy first. "First let go with one arm off the tree, and use that hand to hold onto the branch you're sitting on." she instructed and he complied. "Good. Now do the same with your other hand. Stretch out your foot and put it on the branch below you, and then do that with your other foot. Turn around.. Not that fast! Good... Slowly. Put your weight on your feet and using your hands to twist around so your looking at the branch you were just on. Awesome!" she encouraged, "Now carefully sit down on the branch you're on and keep doing exactly those steps over and over until you're close enough to jump down." When he was finally on the ground five minutes later he sank to his knees and hugged the ground.  
"Wonderful, ground! I'll never leave you again!" he promised as he began kissing said ground. The redhead giggled.

"You're weird..." The boy blushed in embarrassment. There was a loud cough.  
"That's great and all, you two love birds, but I'm still stuck up here if you haven't noticed..." Zara spoke up weakly from her upside down position in the tree. The other two looked up and gasped, the had forgotten that she was there.  
"I'm so sorry! Hold on!" the red haired girl replied. The girl gathered up the bottom of her dress and tied it to one side, making it shorter. She grabbed onto the lowest branch and pulled herself up. In no time at all, the redhead made it to the branch the other was trapped on.  
"Alright" the red haired girl called down to the boy. "I'm gonna get her leg out, it's your job to catch her!"  
"WAIT!" The boy cried.  
"WHAT?" Zara yelped. The redhead grabbed a hold of the other's leg and managed to get it unstuck. And with that the girl began to fall.  
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"I've got you, I've got..." the girl crashed into the ground right in front of him with a loud thud. "Nope, I don't got you..."

The girl who was still in the tree scrambled down to assess the damage. Zara had managed to fall on her butt. She looked to the girl who had just climbed down.  
"REALLY?!" Zara exclaimed, hands on her hips.  
"EXCUSE ME? _YOU_ SHOULD BE THANKING ME!" the other retorted.  
"FOR WHAT?! MAKING ME FALL ON MY BUTT? IT REALLY HURTS!" Zara yelled.  
"WELL I GOT YOU DOWN DIDN'T I?!"  
"Uh, can I say something?" the little boy managed. Both girls turned to him, flames of anger dancing in their eyes.

"NO!" The boy's eyes widened and he quickly took a few steps back. The girls turned back to each other, but that small interruption caused the anger to disappear. The new girl's face broke into a grin. Zera took in the other's appearance . Earlier the other had observed the girl's hair to be a fiery red, but it must have been the way the light was shining, because as she looked closer it was more of a...pink...no, Salmon. Her eyes, a dark green.

"Sorry, I haven't introduced myself I'm Alisa Alvarez." A held out her hand to the other girl for her to shake. The other's bright blue eyes looked at the hand and after a few seconds, her small hand shook the other's.

"I'm Zara Valli" In that moment, both girls realized that they would be friends their entire lives. The small boy gave a small sigh of relief, glad that they were now friends and not trying to kill each other. Alisa then turned to him.

"What's your name?" She asked. His face turned into a grin, happy that the new girl was talking to him.

"My name is Malachi. Malachi Dragneel, nice to meet you."

 _ **(Authors note…**_

 _ **Hestia: this is actually the first chapter we wrote together...ah memories...anyway we still don't own Fairy Tail**_

 _ **Vesta: This was so long ago… actually not all that long, probably like a month or something. I haven't seen this in weeks! But this is where it all started… *takes a trip down memory lane***_

 _ **Hestia: ok hope you like it.)**_


	7. Chapter 7

Dear followers

Hestia and Vesta here.

So….you're going to hate us (mostly me, Hestia who's typing this) but well…

We came up with something for the plot and well, the only way that it works is that we rewrite this story.

We know, we know, you hate us, (Vesta hates me too…) but we believe it will be worth it and promise in the New Year we will have this all written and each chapter will be updated each week

So please be patient and we're sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

Thanks, guys.

Vesta

Hestia


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